Grant Cycle 008

GRANT CYCLE 08 (CLOSED)

(Please read the details given below carefully before applying for the grant)

February 18, 2015

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS NO. TDEA-CVP-Cycle-8-02-2015

RFA Title: Citizens’ Voice Project – Grant Cycle 08

AMENDMENT NO. 1

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Please refer to the above mentioned RFA, Section A – INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICATION FORMAT, paragraph 2 – PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, whereby applicants are required to acknowledge receipt of this amendment as a part of their application on the form attached herewith. Please upload the receipt acknowledgement on the project website as a part of your application.

Please note that the changes have been marked in red color Under para “4. Illustrative Activities”, delete the entire text and replace with the following:

Several broad categories with illustrative activities for achieving the objectives are listed below. Please note that the applicants must remain within these defined categories. Numbers/ targets mentioned for interventions in respective categories are indicative and TDEA may negotiate and revise the activities or targets, as appropriate with successful applicants.

Citizens Campaign for Support to Electoral Reforms

A nationwide campaign on the need for wide-ranging electoral reforms is critical to support advocacy that is currently being undertaken by national and international organizations interested in elections in Pakistan. Public engagements with relevant stakeholders at the local level will help magnify citizens’ voices and also remind political parties that people want electoral reforms. Citizens Campaign would include activities such as:

Formation of District Electoral Reforms Groups (DERG); (Formation of at least one group per district with up to 15 members from civil society organizations, professional associations including media, lawyers etc., and marginalized groups).

Nomination and provision of DERG members for Orientation and Training Events on technical aspects of electoral reforms and advocacy; (The applicant will conduct these trainings after its master trainers/ staff are trained by TDEA. Applicant must budget for associated expenditure for DERG trainings. Two to three trainings will take place over life of the project. Applicants will need to ensure participation of DERG members).

Engagement with district level leadership of Political Parties; (15-20 meetings for consistent engagement with electorally relevant parties in target districts)

Engagement with provincial and national legislators on the need for reforms; (5-10 meetings with national and provincial legislators each – however, the number of meetings will depend on the number of legislators in a district).

Briefing with media on electoral reforms; (3-5 briefings per district).

Conventions on election reforms at district level; (At least two conventions per district with 200 to 250 participants).

Support of signature-based public petition(s) for electoral reforms; (1-5 petitions on need basis. These could be online or paper based as jointly determined by the applicant and TDEA).

Organizing public seminars in colleges and/or universities at district level on election reforms (5-6 seminars per district with 40 to 50 participants).

Public Oversight and Accountability of Electoral Processes:

The organization will implement oversight initiatives to strengthen public accountability of election management body in order to enhance fairness and transparency of these processes. These initiatives may, among others, include (a) oversight of voter registration and up-gradation of voter rolls by way of voter list assessments, (b) delimitation of electoral boundaries, (c) observation of by-elections; and (d) assessment for establishment of polling stations. Some examples of areas that fall under this effort are:

Identification and selection of volunteers; (Up to 25 non-partisan volunteers identified and selected, subject to TDEA’s criteria and approval, in each National Assembly constituency for oversight initiatives from serial (a) to (d) above. These volunteers will be supporting all the below mentioned activities).

Building volunteer capacity (e.g. training), particularly youth as observers; (TDEA will train a set of trainers (master trainers/ TOT) from the applicant’s staff e.g., district coordinators and project managers and will also cover the associated training costs. Applicants will be required to ensure participation of volunteers and cover the costs of follow-on trainings of their volunteers. TDEA will provide one 1-day TOT on delimitation assessment and polling station assessment; and two 1-day TOT each on voter list assessment and election observation).

Public forums to provide opportunities for community interaction with Election Commission and NADRA officials; (10-12 forums per district, especially in areas with low voter registration).

Voter List Assessments; (covering 16 households in up to 2,500 randomly sampled polling areas in in Pakistan for ‘list to people’ and ‘people to list’ assessments. Methodology of assessment will be provided by TDEA during TOT on the subject).

Observation of by-elections; (To be carried out on need basis to cover election-day observation in a constituency where by-election is announced for both National and Provincial Assemblies. TOT on such observation will be provided by TDEA).

Polling station assessments for accessibility, provisions, neutrality; (One report for each of the 272 National Assembly constituencies to be prepared using quantitative and qualitative research techniques).

Constituency delimitation for local government and general elections; (one desk review report per district on the assessment of local, provincial and national assemblies’ electoral boundaries based on applicable laws and rules).

A closing ceremony per district for showcasing the results of interventions of the project and recognizing efforts of DERGs and volunteers.

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

End of Amendment

Citizens’ Voice Project

Cycle – 8: TDEA-CVP-Cycle-8-02-2015

(Please read the details given below carefully before applying for the grant)

Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA) is seeking applications for grants from all eligible and qualified organizations for funding to support programming in selected thematic areas for its program entitled “Citizens’ Voice Project” being managed under a contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The authority for the RFA is found in the contract number AID-391-C-11-00001 between TDEA and the USAID. TDEA has The Asia Foundation (TAF) as collaborator in capacity building component of the project.

The purpose of this RFA is to disseminate information to prospective applicants so that they may develop and submit applications for TDEA funding.

This RFA:

(A) describes the types of activity for which applications will be considered;

(B) describes the funding available and the process and requirements for submitting applications;

(C) explains the criteria for evaluating applications; and

(D) refers prospective applicants to relevant documentation available on the Internet.

The successful Applicant will be responsible for ensuring achievement of the program objectives described in Section – C of this RFA. Subject to the availability of funds, TDEA intends to provide approximately PKR 225,000,000 in total funding for the activities outlined in the Section – C.

Profit or fees will not be allowed under the grants to be executed. However, in accordance with applicable cost standards, all reasonable, allowable, and allocable expenses, both direct and indirect, which are related to the grant awards, may be recognized.

Applicants under consideration for an award that have never received funding from USAID will be subject to pre-award responsibility determination exercises of different types to determine fiscal responsibility, ensure adequacy of financial controls.

Applications must be directly responsive to the terms and conditions of this RFA. Eligible organizations interested in submitting an application must read this RFA thoroughly to understand the type of project sought and the application submission requirements and the evaluation criteria.

To be considered for the award, the applicant must provide all required information in its application including the requirements laid down in any of the attachments to this RFA and subsequent amendments to it, if any. This RFA consists of this cover letter plus the following sections which are an integral part of this RFA:

TDEA reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted with or without giving any reasons. Although it is planned to make multiple grant awards under this RFA, it is TDEA’s right to make a single award, make multiple awards, make more than indicated number of awards, fund parts of an application, or not to make any awards at all. The actual number of awards made under this RFA is subject to the availability of funds, the interests and requirements of TDEA/USAID, as well as the viability of applications received. TDEA also reserves the right to make any final decisions with respect to this solicitation and intends to fund the application(s) which meet the criteria laid down in the RFA, are deemed as most-advantageous for project objectives and provide(s) the best value for money. TDEA also reserves the right to require modifications in proposed interventions in order to make the different projects awarded under same thematic area congruent and to avoid any overlaps with interventions of other partners and donors. Issuance of this RFA does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the TDEA or USAID, nor does it commit the TDEA or USAID to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application. In addition, award of the agreement contemplated by this RFA cannot be made until funds have been appropriated, allocated and committed through internal TDEA procedures.

While TDEA anticipates that these procedures will be successfully completed, potential Applicants are hereby notified of these requirements and conditions for the award. No costs chargeable to the proposed Agreement may be incurred before receipt of a fully executed grant Agreement.

This RFA, all necessary documents to successfully complete the application and any future amendments can be downloaded from this link . In the event of an inconsistency between the documents comprising this RFA, it shall be resolved at the discretion of the Chief of Party. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this RFA document to ensure that it has been downloaded in its entirety from the project website and the application is filled correctly/completely and uploaded completely on the project website. TDEA bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes associated with electronic submissions.

All guidance included in this RFA takes precedence over any reference documents referred to in the RFA. If there are problems in downloading the RFA from the Internet, please email cvp.appshelp@cvpa-tdea.org for technical assistance. The applicant shall submit applications online in electronic copy by uploading at the project website. Applicants must retain a copy of their application and accompanying enclosures for their records.

By submitting application under this RFA, the applicant certifies that all the information contained in the technical and cost applications, their attachments and all supporting documentation provided with the application or subsequently during rounds of clarifications to the time an award is made are correct to the best of his/her knowledge and belief. Any misrepresentation or falsification will result in rejection of the application.

Citizens’ Voice Project intends to conduct online Program Orientation Sessions for applicant organizations and a schedule for the same will be made available on the project website. Please register for these sessions using the guidance provided on the project website. Tentative dates are February 10-11, 2015.

Prospective Applicants who have questions concerning the contents of this RFA shall submit them in writing no later than date above to Grants Management Committee (GMC) at cvp.gmc@cvpa-tdea.org by email ONLY. No questions will be answered over the telephone or after questions closing date. Question & their answers will be posted via the “FAQs” section through the project website. Separate modifications will not be issued if a matter is addressed in the FAQs. TDEA has developed processes for open and clear communications with the staff through email and the online grants management system and remains committed to maintaining integrity of the process and while ensuring responsiveness and accountability from within the project. Applicants are also required to appreciate and respect the integrity of the process and support TDEA with this objective. Therefore, any efforts for directly contacting the project staff and going outside the defined processes for any information which is otherwise made available by TDEA through pre-defined regular means may be construed as influencing the process and breach of integrity which may have negative impact on the application.

Applicants are encouraged to submit applications before the closing date and time indicated at the top of this cover letter to avoid bandwidth and online system related technological issues. TDEA bears no responsibility if an applicant remains unable to submit the application due to technological errors associated with online system at the closing date. The applications must be received before the closing date & time at the designated website.

Late or incomplete applications will not be considered for award. Telegraphic, hard copy through surface mail/ courier or fax applications (entire proposal) are not authorized for this RFA and will not be accepted. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications much before the end date to avoid any technological issues related to network bandwidth etc. The online system will auto-lock at the end time and will not accept any further applications.

Thank you for your consideration of this TDEA initiative towards a national cause. We look forward to your participation.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Pakistan, in cooperation with the USAID Office of Inspector General, established the Anti-Fraud Hotline to provide an avenue for the reporting of fraud, waste, and abuse which may be associated with USAID funded projects in Pakistan. Complaints are handled with complete confidentiality and individuals are encouraged to report when corruption, fraud, waste or abuse may exist in the USAID/Pakistan projects. Reports can be filed anonymously via the easy-to-use Hotline (toll free number 0800 84700); e-mail at [email protected]; fax at 021-35390410; postal address at 5-C, 2nd Floor Khayban-e-Ittehad, Phase VII, DHA, Karachi, Pakistan; and on the website www.anti-fraudhotline.com. Fraud awareness materials (in all regional languages) are available at www.anti-fraudhotline.com.

This website is made possible by the support of the American People through USAID. The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Citizens' Voice Project and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.